


Raw Emotion

by higherground



Category: Degrassi, Degrassi the Next Generation
Genre: Gay, M/M, Male Slash, Romance, Slash, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-15
Updated: 2013-06-17
Packaged: 2017-12-15 02:02:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/844020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/higherground/pseuds/higherground
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drew's heart pounds when he talks to Eli. His words stutter when he maneuvers his mouth into that award-deserving smirk, and his body feels like melting whenever he is simply near. Eli feels that he can feel Drew's heart, that he can give him what he's missing. But what does it all mean and what are they to do? Dreli. Slash. Smut.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Those lips,_ Drew Torres thought to himself while adjusting his seat in the middle of class. He took a deep breath and looked down at his notes, fearing that everyone was watching him. Watching him while he watched someone else.

_Those fucking lips,_ Drew thought again as he scrunched his mouth up a few minutes later, realizing that he was once again staring. He quickly moved his eyes all around the room, checking to see that none of his classmates were catching where his eyes were lingering to.

_Ok, that was the last time. I'm not going to look again,_ Drew determined in his head. He mentally swore at himself when he found that his eyes seemed to be uncontrollably moving to the right, once again. And there, sitting two rows away, exactly two seats ahead of him was the object of his admiration; Eli Goldsworthy.

Drew had been trying to convince himself for nearly a week that admiration was the only reason he kept looking at Eli, the reason he had been thinking about Eli non-stop. He "simply admired the kid" was his justification...his "sense maker."  _But why,_ Drew thought,  _do I keep looking at his lips...and his eyes...and..._

It had all started a week before, on a regular school night. Eli came over to the Torres house to hang out with Drew's little brother Adam. Though Drew and Eli were in the same grade, they had never really interacted much. However, Drew had always been intrigued by the seemingly "emo boy," the kid who, for some reason, drove a hearse. Drew kept it to himself that he actually liked Eli's vibe, liked his style; he was just very interesting.

On this one normal day after school, Drew let Eli into the house, already knowing why he was there. "Hey what's up, dude?" Drew asked, giving Eli a bright smile and taking his handshake.

"Nothing much, man. Same old stuff, really, how about you?" Eli asked, seeming generally interested.

"Same here."

"Well, you look different." Eli said to Drew, scrunching his face.

"What do you mean?"

Eli threw his notebook down on the couch and walked in a circle around Drew as the latter could only raise an eyebrow inquisitively. "Your whole vibe is just different." Eli turned to face Drew, "there's something about you that just seems better...your smile is brighter, and so are your eyes."

Drew chuckled, "what are you, psychic or something?" Drew had been attempting to better himself for a while at that point, attempting to use the mistakes he had recently made as lessons learned in order to become a better man. He wondered if his maturation was just that obvious or if Eli was just that good at reading people, making him that much more interesting.

"Or something," Eli replied, flashing a crooked smirk. "Is it ok if I go up?"

"Oh yeah man, Adam's waiting for you." Eli then walked upstairs and Drew realized that he had been facing the staircase as Eli hopped up, smiling the entire time.

Shaking himself out of it, Drew plopped himself down on the couch and found that Eli left his noebook. Preparing to run up to Adam's room to return it, Drew just couldn't resist the urge to snoop and opened it up. Inside, he found what he assumed to be a play, penned by Eli. Drew delved into the story, becoming hooked from beginning to end; the words seemed to be spilling raw, unadulterated emotion. The characters, their issues, their dialogue: they seemed to come from some place so familiar. Drew felt as if Eli, this guy who he barely knew, had looked into his heart and stolen the words right from inside of him.

Self-insecurity, feelings of unworthiness, fear...everything that Drew had been dealing with, everything that he had been working on was written down in this small notebook. Written by the guy with the sexy smirk and the head full of luscious hair... _wait what?_ Drew felt his face distort confusingly, as he realized what he had just thought...

Dinner later that night was awkward for Drew; Eli had been invited to stay and eat with the Torres family and Drew felt wrong for having thought those things about him, praying to God that the dark haired boy truly wasn't psychic or else things would  _really_  get awkward, also feeling guilty for having gone through his private notebook. Things only got worse when Drew's mom brought up Eli's writing.

"So Eli, have you been writing anything new lately?" she asked, passing the platter of porkchops to Drew who didn't even notice the plate of meat in front of his face as guilt washed over his entire body.

"Yeah, actually, I just wrote a rough draft of a play that's been stirring in my head for a little while now."

_That was a rough draft?_ Drew thought in his head, feeling the story was perfect as is.

"What did you think about it, Drew?" Eli asked, turning to look Drew in the face.

Drew's mouth opened wide and nothing came out but murmurs as Adam punched Eli in the forearm, "You let Drew read it before me?"

"I didn't let him, I left it on the couch and when I came back down, my page marker wasn't on the page I left it on."

With his entire family's eyes on him, Drew finally felt the ability to move his mouth return to him and immediately apologized, "Man, I'm really sorry, it was none of my business, I shouldn't have..."

"What? Don't worry about it!" Eli exclaimed as he placed a hand on Drew's shoulder, "It's no big deal. Really though, what did you think?"

Swallowing his food with a deep gulp, Drew prepared to answer the question as honestly as he could without sounding like a complete fanboy. "I...honestly, I loved it. It was...real, and really relatable," he said as he shoved more mashed potatoes in his mouth.

"For real? That means a lot coming from you, seriously man." And once again, he flashed that smirk and Drew felt as if someone had poured the entire bowl of hot gravy down his shirt. "You mind passing the mashed potatoes?" Eli asked, still smirking. As Drew passed along the bowl, he touched the fingers of the boy with black painted nails and had to stop himself from dropping it, and most of all, had to stop himself from staring at Eli to try to figure out if he noticed.  _What the fuck is going on with me?_ he thought, that same question being repeated in his mind over and over again that entire night.

And here he was, a week later, with the same question ringing in his head as he looked  _admiringly_  towards his right. Suddenly, those deep green eyes met his and he couldn't turn away, not until that  _fucking amazing smirk_ popped up again and then thank God, he was saved by the bell.

Drew quickly grabbed his belongings and power walked out of the classroom, intent on going to find some girl, any girl, and look at her, just look at her. He thought about Bianca and how pretty she was,  _but she doesn't have lips like Eli. What the fuck?!_ He tried to think about Katie,  _but she didn't make me feel the way I did when I just touched his fingers for that one moment._ Drew had to get away, he had to go the bathroom or something to just think! He increased his speed until..."Hey Drew! Wait up!"

Drew spun around to see Eli running up towards him. "Hey, what's up, Eli. I was just heading over to the bathroom really quick..."

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to hold you up, I just wanted to get your opinion on something... about my play, but I guess I'll catch you later?" Eli asked, licking his lips after he finished speaking.

"Yeah, I guess so! Talk to you later dude," Drew exclaimed rapidly as he spun on his heel and nearly ran to the bathroom, into a stall, shut the door, and looked down at his pants to see himself nearly protruding out of his zipper.

_What the fuck is going on with me?_


	2. Chapter 2

Eli felt as though he was being watched. He felt that hole burning sensation in the back of his head and wondered where the feeling was coming from. He turned his head and scanned the room, locking eyes with Drew Torres. Wondering if Drew had been the one looking at him for the entire period, Eli remained locked on Drew's face, expecting for him to say something, thinking that perhaps he had been trying to get his attenion.

However, all Drew did was look, for what feels like forever.  _I've never noticed how rosey his cheeks are_ , Eli thought. _Wow, that was a random thought_. Eli wondered if Drew was just looking at him and judging him for being weird, as a result of that fiasco the other day when he had commented on how much brighter his smile and eyes were. Eli was not one to have major self-consciousness issues but he had immediately felt creepy after saying that to his best friend's brother.

It was true though. Eli felt a new presence around Drew and just felt compelled to let him know so. He felt a weird, warm tingling in his belly when Drew smiled at him upon welcoming him into the Torres home and thought he should let him know that it was working for him.  _And boy was it._ Still looking, Eli felt that tingling rise again in his stomach, a feeling that ceased when the bell rang.

Eli had planned on going up to Drew when the period was over, as he had wanted to question him more on his opinions on the play. Unfortunately, his plan was thwarted as Drew was the first person out of the classroom and all he saw was a blur speeding out of the door. Determined, Eli ran after him, finding him power walking down the hall, in a daze.

"Hey Drew! Wait up!" he shouted as he caught up with the jock.

When Drew spun around to greet him, Eli noticed that his rosey cheeks were even more flushed than usual, causing the tingling feeling to return and his interest to peak. "Hey, what's up, Eli? I was just heading over to the bathroom really quick..." Drew said, seeming to be in a hurry.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to hold you up, I just wanted to get your opinion on something... about my play, but I guess I'll catch you later?" Subconsciously, Eli then licked his lips, unaware of what button he was pushing.

"Yeah, I guess so! Talk to you later dude," Drew exclaimed rapidly, as he spun on his heel and nearly ran to the bathroom, but not before Eli had glanced down to see Drew nearly protruding out of his zipper.

As Eli blinked in confusion, a smirk crawled over his face. Not one of joy, not one of smugness, but one of extreme interest.

Eli racked his brain for the rest of the day; why exacty was Drew staring at him in class? Has he been the cause of him feeling as though someone had been watching him for the past week? Was it Eli that caused the trouser tent? And most importantly, why did he keep thinking about his smile, his rosey cheeks, and how he said that he loved his play? All Eli knew was that his new goal was to get to the bottom of each and everyone of those questions.

At the end of the day, Eli waited at the entrance to school for Dew to walk by, looking left and right, not knowing which way he would be coming from, hoping he hadn't already gone home.  _Come on, pretty boy...pretty boy? That was new._

Drew had spotted Eli from the top of the staircase, and he immediately flashed back to just a few hours earlier in the bathroom stall, when he was forced to get rid of his little problem. Drew's stomach knotted as he looked at the dark haired boy and remembered his role in the fantasy that played out in his head when he stroked away in the bathroom. He contemplated turning around and just waiting for Eli to leave, but he was too late. "Drew!" The jock smiled just a bit wider than he thought he should have.

"Hey, Eli," he said as he swiftly went down the stairs. Drew went over to him and leaned against the door frame, continuing to smile. "So," he said, trying to put on a facade of cockiness, "you said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

Eli cocked his head playfully to the side, "yeah, I was wondering if you could give me a bit more of a detailed review of my play? Are you free?"

"Uhh, sure, man, yeah, why don't we go sit outside in the quad?"

The two guys walked in silence over to a bench directly under the big tree. "Your brother didn't really get some of the stuff I was trying to get across in the story but you seemed to get it, right?" Eli asked as they sat down, pulling out his notebook and opening it up.

"I'm not a real literature, play-reading type of guy, but yeah, I think I got it," Drew said looking at Eli as he mulled over his work.

"Which is exactly why I need you," said Eli, smirking when Drew raised an eyebrow at the statement. "...Exactly why I need your opinion. You know, sometimes I just need something new from someone...new." He chuckled and looked over to Drew who was also giggling, "Did that make any sense at all?"

Drew licked his lips, and confidently said, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know exactly what you mean."

Eli blunk and decided to return to the task at hand, "So, you love my play. Care to tell me why in excruciating detail?"

Drew gulped, prepared to let all of the opinions and feelings that were formed in his head and heart flow out of him. "I could relate to a lot of the things that you wrote about. The main characters...the uh, hero and the villan, I felt like they were both me. I felt like they were kind of...speaking for me. It's just that everything in this notebook, all the pain and the issues that you put these characters through, they feel real to me. They are real to me."

Drew shifted his entire body to make sure that he was completely facing Eli, to make the boy know that he was 100 percent serious and not just making some joke, "it seemed like you literally saw right through me, pulled everything out, and just," Drew lifted his hands and pulled them apart while making an explosion and splattering sound as he brought them down onto the notebook, "splattered it all onto paper."

The two boys laughed and Eli placed a hand on Drew's shoulder, "That truly does mean a lot..." he began to say as Drew looked deep into his face, then shortly cleared his throat, and looked down at the table.

"Uh, it's really nothing, man, it just um, it feels good knowing that the stuff I deal with isn't just ya know...bullshit."

Eli lifted himself up to sit on top of the bench table, "And you know why it isn't bullshit, Mr. Torres?" he asked.

"Why, Mr. Goldsworthy?" Drew said squinting his eyes in anticipation.

"Because you're dealing with it."

Smiling, Drew nodded in agreement, "I like your philosophy."

Puckering his mouth, Eli exclaimed "You know, I never pegged Degrassi's cocky QB as one for dealing with complex emotions."

"Well then, I guess Degrassi's resident vampire doesn't know me too well," Drew said, with a grin.

Eli matched the grin with one of his own. Everything was going according to his plan. One thing Eli definitely was, was a strategist and he was pushing Drew right into the corner he wanted him to be in. Slowly lowering his upper body, Eli responded with "Well, maybe that should change, don't you think?"

Clearing his throat once again, Drew looked back down at the table and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. Eli positioned himself back down onto the bench right next to Drew. "Can I ask you a question?" he queried.

"Of course. What is it?" Drew asked, not picking his eyes up from the table.

Eli leaned in closer to Drew, drawing his face nearer to his, having to bend his head down in an attempt to look him in the face. "Do I make you nervous?"

Drew lifted his face to match Eli's, scrunching it up, "Me? Nervous? No way! I'm solid as a rock."

"I can see that," Eli said as he nudged his eyes downward, directing Drew's eyes to the bulge situated near Drew's cotch.

"I should get home," Drew said as he grabbed his bookbag and hopped off of the bench and began walking.

"Drew, wait!" Eli said as he caught up with him and grabbed him by the arm, "I didn't mean to..."

"No, it's not your fault. It's mine. I'm not  _dealing_  with the issue," he said as he turned around to face Eli with seriousness etched all over his face.

"And which issue would that be?"

Drew walked closer to Eli, and Eli was shocked as Drew placed his arm on his lower back and lessened the gap between them, angling his head right beside his. With his mouth inches next to Eli's ear, Drew whispered, "I like it when you make me nervous."

Drew retracted his head and Eli looked into his face, wondering if that statement really came out of his mouth.

Eli's belly was bursting with that tingling feeling, Drew's face was as flushed as ever, his hand feeling as though it was gonna fall off by touching Eli as much as he was right now. Drew's eyes immediately darted from Eli's wondrous green eyes to his thick lips, a hunger rising inside of him that he had never felt before.

_To hell with strategy._

And they were inseparable. Neither one of them knew who had made the first move, but here they were, lips wrestling in passionate expression. Drew pressed his lips against Eli, longing for more everytime they would separate even for a nano second, feeling as though he was drowning in the softness of the lips that curved into that sexy smirk he adored. He prayed to God that the girls he's hooked up with weren't lying when they told him he was a good kisser as at that moment, he wanted nothing more than to please Eli, he wanted to give him what he deserved.

Eli was so amazed at the sensation of kissing Drew that he let out an uncontrollable moan. Though needing air, he did not want to stop his lips from pressing into Drew's. It began to feel like he didn't know how, even if he wanted to.

The two finally slowed down after what felt like an eternity, placing a couple more soft pecks on each other's lips. Touching foreheads, the two, with eyes closed, took breaths and sighed in satisfaction and relief.

Eli was the first to break the silence, which also felt like an eternity. "That...um...that happened."

Drew smiled, with his eyes still closed and said "Yeah, it uh, definitely happened."

"What now?" Eli asked.

Drew opened his eyes and looked at Eli. In turn, Eli opened his eyes and the two felt mesmerized for a moment.

"We deal with it," says Drew.


End file.
